Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says that the Mercedes domination is not good for F1 – and qualified his opinion by insisting that despite Sebastian Vettel’s four titles his team was never in such a strong position.

Horner says that the sport has to realize that the fans are important.

“I think that predictable and serial results, serial winning, is difficult for any sport,” he said. “We were accused of it but we never enjoyed the continuation of success or longevity of success. Two of our world championships went to the last race and we never ever finished 1-2 in a world championship, and I think that inevitably with that kind of predictability, people get turned off and it needs a re-jig to bring it closer together.

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“I don’t think anyone wants to see Fernando Alonso just taking part, we want to see him competing, we want to see Daniel Ricciardo competing, we want to see Sebastian Vettel competing against Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. The teams will never achieve that, because there is far too much self-interest, and you cannot expect the teams to achieve that. That is for the regulator, and the governing body, to come up with a set of rules that achieves those objectives.

With talks continuing about future engine rules, Horner denied that the sport is in crisis.

“Crisis is a strong word. There are things that need sorting out for the future. We need strong leadership at any time of uncertainty. That is vitally important and we need strong leadership from the commercial rights holder (Bernie Ecclestone) and the governing body, to plot the path of the future that addresses what the fans need and what the fans want to see.

“Because without them, there is no F1. And F1 ultimately has to be a show, it has to be entertainment and it has to appeal to a broad spectrum of fans and spectators.”